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Aliaksandra Sasnovich continued her fine run at the Korea Open by upsetting the odds to defeat Sloane Stephens and reach the semi-finals.

Despite being ranked 104 places lower than Stephens in the rankings, Belarusian qualifier Sasnovich – who had already beaten Alexandra Dulgheru and Maria Rybarikova this week – secured a 6-3 6-2 victory in Seoul on Friday.

Sasnovich – who has yet to win a title on the main WTA Tour – raced into a 4-0 lead in the opener and, although she showed signs of nerves to allow Stephens back into the set, she served out when leading 5-3.

And there was to be no fight back from third seed Stephens, who meekly exited the tournament after surrendering the second set in a little over half an hour.

Next up is second seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who overcame a second-set blip to defeat fifth seed Mona Barthel 6-4 3-6 6-1.

On the other side of the draw, top seed Irina-Camelia Begu had little trouble in her 6-4 7-5 defeat of Johanna Larsson and now faces Alison Van Uytvanck in the semis following her 6-1 4-6 6-2 victory against Elizaveta Kulichkova.